Monday, December 28, 2009
Mehrengarh Fort
If this is Monday it must be Jodhpur. Today we saw Mehrengarh Fort which was the best fort in all Asia - yes, apparently they have beauty contests for Forts. For those who don't know, Rajastan was never subdued by the Moghuls and even today has a Maharaja. Until 1929 the Maharaja of Jalipur, the kind of capo de capo of local kings lived in this Fort. Now he lives in a bigger better palace yonder that was built as a public works project during the depression. The name comes from an offering to the Fort - I am not clear on why this was done as, if anything it seems to me it would weaken the foundation but here goes. If you threw yourself into the Foundation as they were building the Fort and allowed yourself to be buried alive in cement or stones or whatever, your family would be well taken care of. This was not, I am told about accidentally falling into the Foundation but actually hurling yourself in as an offering. The ritual is called Mehren (I double checked this) and garh means fort so that is how the name came about.
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Our India
Cameron, Chris and Heather will travel to Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, during the 3 days before Alex arrives. We meet Alex and then set out from Delhi in the north. We travel mainly in Rajasthan, in what is called the Golden Triangle. We will visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, Jodhpur, Jaipur, often called the Pink City, Udaipur with a Palace that sits in the middle of a lake, and Pushkar, which every year has a big camel fair. Then Alex and Chris return home to university. Heather and Cameron continue and tour through parts of the south, starting in Chennai and Madurai, both in Tamil Nadu. We drive through the Western Ghats arriving in Cochin and the backwaters of Kerala. Mumbai ends our trip and home to Canada.
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